Providing support in fifth grade class

When I finish my DI groups at the end of the day, I am supposed to go into a fifth grade classroom to provide support. This is that teacher's DI time as well and some of the kids who should be working independently or doing SSR are off task. Some are downright defiant. She is getting frustrated because she is having to stop her groups to deal.with behaviors. I have not been given a task except to keep students on task. They look me in the face and continue to do what they want.

This is not my classroom. I am not a co-teacher. I am new to the school. I've got to deal with this issue somehow. I would appreciate advice.

Sorry but what's DI? I would defer everything back to the classroom teacher. One thing is for sure, you don't want to have some reputation for not being more proactive. You could offer suggestions to the classroom teacher like if it's okay to do pull-out's, that kinda thing. It's very likely that students distract each other when they should be separated.

Does she have a classroom management system? Can you use it for consequences? On the other end of the spectrum, can you put a bag of m & m's in your pocket and discretely pass one out to people who are on task? Could you start a game for management purposes? Like the 3 people who are on task most often during that time get some sort of reward (that the teacher sponsors). How about drawing a baseball diamond on the board. As you see kids working for a specified time period, you put them on a base. When you see kids off task, they get a strike. 3 strikes and a working name gets out. Girls against boys. Group against group? This could all be done without words. The reward could be the win over the course of a week. Maybe they could have 5 minutes of freetime?

I would also wonder why they are doing things like SSR at the end of the day. It seems like with you in the classroom, those kids could be doing something more engaging to them? Some sort of small group reviews? They could even compete against groups in a larger group review.

I need to learn the teacher's classroom management system. I like the idea of rewarding students I catch on task when I come in. I do feel the end of the day is not the best time for SSR, DI (our guided reading) and independent work. Fifth grade is departmentalized, but there are an odd number of classes so scheduling has been a challenge. I believe that is why this class is doing this at the end of the day.

If you are there to support the homeroom teacher, it seems to me that you need to sit down with her and get very clear on what support she needs and how you can best be effective in her class. Find out what individual students' goals and challenges are, and brainstorm with her to come up with ideas and a plan for which students can benefit from your attention and lessons, and what you can do for them. I don't think it's your job to be the class disciplinarian. You need to have objectives and planned learning outcomes, and then use your own methods for management when you pull a small group of students.

Thank you Apple Annie. Your perspective is what I wanted to be put out there. I don't want to be the disciplinarian, with the main reason being it will backfire. I do think students need more structure for that time of day. Now when we do get to talk about my role in the classroom, I have a better idea how to state this so that I get my point across.

In time, this teacher began to provide more structure for the time that I am in her room. I sit at a small groups table during her small groups rotations. There are certain students assigned to sit at the table to complete the independent portion of the cycle. These are students who were not previously doing their work. I am there to keep them focused on the writing task. It still feels like babysitting, but at least some of these students get their independent work done, and are more settled than they were before. The teacher has been calling parents and assigning detention to students who are causing disruptions, but it is still a constant battle with those particular students.